


Heartbeat

by hihikoala1



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Bad Jokes, Bad Pick-Up Lines, Bad Puns, Dead People, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Sad, Short Chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-09-06
Packaged: 2018-02-13 19:19:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2162115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hihikoala1/pseuds/hihikoala1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yeah, super short chapter, I know. I was having trouble writing this one because it was just so funny to me. Next chapter will be a bit longer, promise.</p><p>Also, Jean and Marco are just so cute together! =)</p>
        </blockquote>





	1. Outbreak

"Sure is cloudy out today. Think it'll rain, Mikasa?" the brown-haired boy asked his sister across the room.  
"Eren, did you forget we're in a drought? A couple clouds doesn't mean rain," the black-haired girl said, not looking up from her phone.  
"Sorry for being optimistic."  
Eren stared out the window. He could faintly see his reflection in the window, his bright green eyes tinted a blueish gray by the sky. His brown hair messily fell across his forehead and he rested his chin on his hands. His gaze was directed at the sky, but his eyes darted down whenever he saw movement on the street in his peripheral view. After a few moments, a familiar car came into view down the road. The dark gray van pulled up into the driveway and came to a halt. The door opened and out stepped a tall man with unkempt brown hair and glasses. He was dressed in a white lab coat, dark green pants, and black shoes.  
"Dad's home!" Eren called over his shoulder.  
Eren got up to open the door for his dad. His dad was always carrying something when he came home and it was routine for either Eren or Mikasa to open the door for him. But today was different. When Eren opened the door, there was nothing in his father's arms. He looked very tired and worried, and he rushed into the house frantically. In no time at all, he had a large duffle bag in his hands and was grabbing all the cans he could from the kitchen.  
"Dad? Is something wrong?" Mikasa asked him, worry in her voice.  
He said nothing, too intent on his work. He wasn't usually like this. Within a couple minutes, he had filled the bag with canned food, breads, granola bars, fruits, and water bottles to the point it could hardly zip. Then he ran off to his bedroom and grabbed another backpack. Eren and Mikasa ran after him.  
"What's going on? What're you doing?" Eren asked.  
His father turned to the two teens standing in the doorway. "Kids, pack your things. One bag each unless you know you can carry more. Only the essentials. Go, now!"  
"But... why?" Mikasa asked, scared.  
"Because I said so! Go, both of you! There's not much time!"  
They both turned and ran to their rooms to fill their backpacks with clothes. They each fit about an eighth of their closets into their bags, along with personal posessions like a couple notebooks or phones and chargers or jewlery. Once both were satisfied with their backpacks, they put on their shoes and met back with their dad in the living room. Their dad had the duffle bag in his hand, backpack on his back, tent under his arm, and a camping cookset in a bag at his feet.  
"Mikasa, Eren, take these to the car and put them in the trunk. Then buckle up, I just have to grab a couple more things," their dad said, handing Mikasa the camping cookset and Eren the duffle bag.  
They both nodded and carried the supplies to the car. Everyone outside was also packing their cars. What was going on? Were they being evacuated? Eren and Mikasa got in the second row of seats in the eight-seater van and buckled their seat belts. They waited in relativly worried silence. It was only a couple minutes until their father came out to the car, but it felt like hours. He put his bags in the trunk and got in the driver's seat.  
"Got everything?" He asked them as he started the car.  
They looked at each other for a second, then faced forward again.  
"Yes," Mikasa said.  
"Good. Say goodbye to the house, kids. This is probably the last time you'll ever see it."  
"What do you mean?" Mikasa asked.  
"What's going on, Dad?" Eren said frantically.  
"Today at the disease center I work at, a virus broke free. A bad one. One we hadn't found a cure for yet. There was no stopping it. We contacted the news channels and got it on the news within minutes. Some people are already infected, and it's growing rapidly. We have to get away."  
They were driving down the neighborhood roads as fast as possible now. Their dad, Grisha, was coughing a little, but he cleared his throat and it subsided.  
"The virus starts off slow, and it feels like a normal cold. Within an hour, it feels like a flu. A few hours later, you'll start vomiting. After a minimum of twenty-four hours, it... it kills you," Grisha said.  
"We're gonna die?!" both teens said almost simultaneously.  
"No, we're not gonna die. That's why we're driving; so we won't die."  
Eren thought for a moment, then his eyes widened and his head shot up.  
"Armin! We have to go get Armin!" Eren yelled to his dad.  
"Who, your little blond friend? Why?" Grisha asked, eyes on the road.  
"His parents are on vacation, there's no one else to take him. He'll die without us!" Eren's eyes were wet just from the thought of their childhood friend dying like that.  
Grisha made a hard turn and nodded at Eren, who sat back in his seat. Within five minutes, they were in front of Armin's house. Eren erupted from the car and was banging his fist on the front door as hard a he could. Soon, the door opened.  
"Eren? What's up?" the short blond smiled.  
"Armin! There's no time! Fill a backpack with only things essential to survival, we gotta go!" Eren said quickly.  
"Um, ok...? H-Hang on, I'll be right back," Armin ran back into the house, leaving the door open.  
Armin grabbed his things and came out to the van. He set his bag in the trunk sat between Eren and Mikasa. As Grisha drove, they told him everything they knew. Armin's salvia blue eyes grew wide with fear the more they told him. None of them wanted to die. They knew if they got this virus they were as good as dead, though. They continued driving for about half an hour in relative silence before Mikasa spoke up.  
"Um, where are we going?"  
"I'm taking us to the camping grounds by the river. You know, the one we went to a couple years ago with your aunt and uncle?" Grisha said, no once looking away from the road.  
Mikasa nodded. That camp sight wasn't very popular. It was about a three hour drive, and it was very secluded in the forest. The reason it wasn't popular was because of the high number of bears and wolves in the area. They never really attacked the camp sites though. It just might be the perfect place to stay safe until this all blows over. Grisha fell into a short coughing fit. Eren and Mikasa were concerned, but he assured them it was just a scratchy throat and that he was fine. He didn't want them worrying about him at a time like this.

Two and a half grueling hours passed and they arrived at the camping grounds. There was no one else here that they could see. They chose a site at the very back of the grounds, far away in the most secluded area. There, they set up two tents, one with a maximum capacity of four and the other with six. They layed down air matresses, blankets, and pillows, and began setting up everything else. Each camp site had a little wooden box where you could store foods that didn't need a cooler. In this case, they had no coolers so everything went into the wooden box and lined the shelves. Whatever didn't fit in the box stayed in the duffle bag and was put back in the car under the seat. They set up some foldable chairs around the fire pit and put the cook set by the pit as well. There was a picnic table which they put a lantern on for when it got dark.  
They had one small gasoline-powered generator that had three outlets and could also invert power if they needed it to. Since gasoline would be hard to come by, they came up with the rule that the generator could only be turned on once a week and only if it was absolutely necessary. Currently it had a full tank, but it could only last for a couple hours if that. At some point, they would have to go into town and find more fuel for their car and the generator if they wanted to keep either of them running. Grisha called the three teens over to him once they had everything set up.  
"Alright. Now, this is a forest and there are wild animals out there. You all need to stay safe. I have had a few things stockpiled in case anything like this were to happen. Here," Grisha handed Armin, Eren, and Mikasa each their own hunting knife. "use these wisely. If anything attacks you, use these to defend yourselves. If you kill an animal, bring it back and we can cook it and eat it. But don't go looking for trouble. I don't want any of you dying, got it?"  
The three of them nodded. Grisha pulled out a pistol for himself. The teens were told to never even touch the gun unless it was a last resort. Next, Grisha gave them all jobs for the day. The sun was beginning to set, and Armin and Eren were tasked with finding suitable firewood. Mikasa was told to get some kindling and start up a fire. Grisha would chop up the wood that was brought back as well as cook the food. Mikasa and Grisha stayed at the camp to do their jobs while Eren and Armin set off to find some firewood along the path.  
"Hey, Eren?" Armin said after a long silence.  
"Hmm?" Eren kept looking along the path for wood that might work.  
"Do you think we'll have to be here a long time?" Armin sounded scared.  
"Nah... They'll just quarantine all the sick people and this will all be over. I give it a few days tops. There's nothing to worry about," Eren said this so confidently, but he didn't really believe it.  
"Okay. I hope your right. I really want to be back home when my parents come back so they don't get scared. They always worry when I'm not there."  
Soon they both had a nice bundle of firewood and were on their way back to the camp site. It was already getting dark. They picked up their pace, not wanting to get lost at night. They got back to the site and placed the wood in a pile for Grisha to chop up. There was a small fire going now, but it was not big enough to begin cooking with. Once a couple sticks were cut to length, they were placed in the fire with a crackle. Now it was big enough to begin cooking with.  
Grisha set a pot over the fire with some canned soup in it. It didn't take long before a delicious scent was coming from the pot. Once it was done, the soup was poured into bowls and all four of them took their share. None of them had eaten for the past six hours at least, and everyone scarfed down the soup without saying a word. It was warm and wonderful in the cool night air, heating them from the inside out. They sat around the fire and told stories to calm down. It had been a rough, fast-paced day and now was the time to relax.  
Armin checked his watch after a little while. It was getting close to eleven at night and everyone was tired now. They decided it was best to sleep paired up so no one was alone and it woultn't be too crowded. Mikasa and her dad went to sleep in the bigger tent, Armin and Eren in the smaller tent. In no time at all, everyone was asleep and the fire glowed outside until it ran out of fuel and put itself out.

Mikasa burst into Eren and Armin's tent. Her expression was that of fear and worry. She wasn't even dressed, only wearing a pair of pajama shorts and a t-shirt. She woke up the boys and spoke to them quickly.  
"Dad's gone. He woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and I haven't seen him since! Get up, we have to find him!"  
Armin and Eren got up and walked with Mikasa on the hunt for Grisha. Armin had only a pair of pajama pants and Eren wore his boxers and an undershirt. They were highly underdressed for the cold autumn morning, but this was no time to worry about being cold. They looked all over for the missing man. They called his name and check almost everywhere within a half-mile radius. After about an hour of searching, they head back to the camp site to figure out a plan and make some breakfast.  
When they arrived at the camp site, there was a man standing hunched over the open trunk of the van. He had messy brown hair and glasses resting loosely on his nose. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin recognised him instantly.  
"Dad! There you are! Where have you been?" Mikasa ran up to him and hugged him from behind.  
They were all happy to see that he was okay. For a time, they were almost certain he had been mauled by a bear or something. Mikasa let go of him and took a step back. Their father turned around. There were the reminants of vomit on his chest, and it looked like it had been there for hours. His eyes where white and bloodshot. His mouth hung open and he had a string of drool dripping down his chin. His skin was so pale. He was not alive, but he was standing right there.  
Grisha, or rather what once was Grisha, lunged at Mikasa, grabbing her shoulders and knocking her over. She screamed and hit the ground with a hard thud. Armin stood in horror, unable to move. Eren was scared at first, but quickly ran to his tent and grabbed his knife. He didn't want to do this, but he wanted his sister to be okay more than anything. Eren pounced at the creature's side, knocking it off of Mikasa. He sat atop its chest and raised the knife high. He hesitated at first, but shook the feeling and brought the knife down with a battlecry-like scream. Eren stabbed the creature right between the eyes and brought the knife back up to do it again and again. Once he was sure it was dead, he sat back and tried to catch his breath.  
Had Eren just killed his father? No. No way. There was no way that that... that thing was his father. His dad would never try to hurt Mikasa. And he certainly didn't look like this. There was animal flesh in his teeth. It was all bloody, like whatever it was had been was recently eaten. Had he been infected when the virus broke out at the lab? That must be it. There was no other logical option, and even this one was irrational. The virus kills people infected with it. Would that make him a sort of zombie?  
Eren stood up and pulled his knife from the dead thing's skull. His heart was beating rapidly and his breaths were shaky. Mikasa grabbed him and hugged him tightly. There were tears streaming down her cheeks.  
"Eren! Thank you!" She said between wheezes. "What... what was that? Was that Dad?"  
"I... I don't think so..." Eren said just above a whisper.  
"It was a zombie," Armin said, a horrified expression on his face.  
"No, no, those aren't real," Eren closed his eyes.  
"Well they are now I guess. I've read enough stuff and watched enough movies and TV shows to know what they look like and how they act. There's no other option. Your dad was a zombie," Armin told him.  
The information sunk in. This was real. This was really happening. Their father had been infected when the virus broke out at the lab, he died, and he turned. He became a zombie and tried to infect Mikasa. Now he was dead for real. Stabbed in the head by his own son. But knowing that it was a zombie version of him made Eren feel less guilty. He hadn't killed his father; his father had already died hours ago. No, Eren killed a zombie. But either way, his dad was still dead, and there was blood splattered on Eren's hands. Eren didn't normally cry, but this was an acception.


	2. New Arrival

A week has passed now. The three teens have been undisturbed the entire week with the acception of a couple squirrels which they killed and cooked. Armin made a couple fishing poles from sticks and discarded line and hooks he found along the riverbank. They have fresh fish at dinner and eat what they brought otherwise. Water has yet to be a problem because whenever they are not cooking food they are boiling water to refill the bottles. They function like a town of three. They each have their daily jobs – Armin goes fishing in the mornings, Mikasa cleans the fish and keeps the fire going, Eren gathers wood when they need it and keeps watch. All other jobs they share and do whenever they need to. All three of them sleep in the big tent together and they use the smaller tent for storage and private changing. The car is kept clean and turned off at all times. The plan is that they can use it if they ever have to leave the camp grounds in search for a new home, and only then will they pack it with their supplies.  
Eren worked on making his rounds, keeping an eye out for any inbound zombies and wild animals. The pistol sat in the waistband of his jeans, ready to be pulled out from behind in case of emergencies. He kept his hunting knife in his right hand and his left stood empty and relaxed. His rounds consisted of circling the camp site and walking along the road for about three hundred feet and circling back to do it again, all the while keeping a watchful eye in all directions. Today, as Eren walked down the road for the fourth time, he saw something in the distance. A small group of figures could be seen down the path a ways, maybe four hundred feet away now. He couldn't tell if they were zombies or humans from here, but did it really matter? They were intruders all the same, and he knew they could see them. He chose to walk to them and meet them. If they were zombies, he'd probably have to shoot them because it looked like there were quite a few from here.  
Now that he was closer, he could see that there were four humans, three men and one woman. They all had various bags and a couple had weapons. Eren knew that other people could pose a threat. They could be infected or they could steal from them or just kill them all together. Eren stopped walking and pointed his knife at the group.  
"Stop!" He called to them from about twenty feet away. "State your buisness!"  
The second tallest of the group stepped forward, and Eren motioned him to go no further. The man had his hair buzzed on the sides to make a messy undercut. The top had been bleached, and he looked like a hipster that needed some hair gel or something. He had a long face and small eyes making him slightly resemble a horse.  
"Um, hi there! We've been walking to this camp ground for this past week, we mean no harm! We don't have much to offer you, but maybe we could team up? I see a car in the distance, is that yours?" The horse-faced man called to Eren.  
Eren nodded. "You can't have the car."  
"No, no, we don't want it! But we'd like to live up here, is that okay?"  
Eren paused for a moment, thinking. He came to a decision and lowered his knife.  
"I'll have to talk it over with my friends. Come with me so they can see you and decide for themselves," Eren said, motioning for them to follow.  
The horse-faced man's eyes lit up and the group smiled and breathed a collective sigh of relief. Eren had looked very threatening to such a weary bunch. Eren walked them up the path to the camp site they had claimed. He called Mikasa and Armin over and they talked over the idea of letting these people join them. The three of them were fairly set as it was with more than enough food to support them for at least the next couple weeks. They chose to trust the new people and let them join. The new people cheered and thanked them, then introduced themselves.  
The horse-faced man went first. "I'm Jean Kirstein."  
The tallest one went next. He had short black hair that hung slightly over his forehead. He had light freckles across his cheeks and happy-looking eyes. "I'm Marco Bott."  
The third man went next he was much shorter than the others, but looked to be about the same age. His hair was kept in a buzzcut. He had naturally down-turned eyebrows making him look angry, but his smile told a different story. "My name's Connie Springer."  
Finally, the girl introduced herself. She had reddish-brown hair in a high ponytail with side-swept bangs over her face. At the moment, she was eating a piece of bread. "And I'm Sasha Braus."  
"Alright. I'm Eren Jaeger," Eren pointed to himself, them to Armin. "This is Armin Arlert. And this is my sister, well, adopted sister, Mikasa Ackerman."  
Everyone shook hands and Mikasa gave them the lay of the land, so to speak.  
"Alright. Jean, you appear to be in charge of your group. You have tents, yes?" Jean nodded. "Good. You can post them up on the sight to the left of us however you please. That will be your area and you can store any food you currently have there. We keep any extra that will not fit in the box in out storage tent over there. You can either stockpile all of your food there or keep it seperate, whatever you think best suits your people's needs. We have clean water and we refill the bottles when needed with boiled water from the river. Armin catches fish every day, and sometimes we get squirrels or birds to eat fresh. Curfiew is at ten o'clock P.M. You don't have to sleep, just go into your respective tents until morning. If you need to leave to go to the bathroom, take a buddy and a light. Eren here has the gun which makes him the leader of the group. You will answer to him and if you have any questions he'd be the one to ask. With that said, do you have any questions?"  
Everyone shook their heads. Mikasa continued.  
"Good. Now go get your area set up. Since you all look exausted you won't have to do any work today, but tomorrow you will all have jobs so you contribute and earn your keep."  
The four new people nodded and went to set up their homes. Mikasa, Eren, and Armin went back to their jobs. Once the new tents had all been set up, Jean came over to Mikasa at the picnic table and sat next to her on the old wood. He was silent at first, just watching her clean the fish in her hands. She had developed quite a talent for preparing the fish, as well as squirrels and birds. She worked so diligently with her hunting knife. Mikasa glared up at Jean.  
"Can I help you?" She asked, slightly annoyed that he was staring at her.  
"Hm? Oh, um..." Jean's cheeks turned slightly pink. "Y-Your really good at... meat cutting. How, um... how old are you?"  
"Fifthteen," Mikasa answered and focused again on the fish.  
"Really? Me too!" Jean gave a nervous chuckle. "I just wanted to say that... um... your hair is really pretty... I like black hair. On anyone, really, but it looks beautiful on you."  
Mikasa just gave a quiet, "Thank you," not even looking up at Jean. Jean twiddled his thumbs for a bit, then turned and looked at the pile of uncleaned fish on the table. There were three in total, and another pile of cleaned fish next to it containing two at the moment. Jean picked up one of the fish and pulled out a pocket knife. He had no idea how to clean a fish, but he figured that by watching Mikasa do it, he could learn. He cut off the head and tail, slowly and messily took out the spine and got all the guts out, and then saw he had missed some bones. He used the knife to pick them out one by one until he couldn't see any more. He turned and smiled at Mikasa.  
"You forgot the scales," She said without even looking at what he had done.  
"Huh? Oh, I knew that. I... wasn't done yet," Jean tried to act like he was telling the truth, but was clearly lying.

"Guys! Dinner's ready! Come get it while it's hot!" Armin called out so everyone could hear.  
The picnic table had been set with food for everyone. The table only held six so a folding chair was placed at one end for their leader, Eren. Since they did not know what everyone liked, they set the table like a Thanksgiving feast with different dishes. There was a plate of cooked fish fillets, plates of bread, green beans, and corn brought by the new group. Everyone sat down and helped themselves to however much of each food they wanted. Sasha's plate had at least twice the amount of food as anyone else.  
The lamp in the middle of the table shone brightly in the darkening camp ground. They kept the fire going which gave everything a flickering red tint. Close friends Sasha and Connie were having a friendly debate over Sasha's eating habits, but there was no heat in either of their voices. The rest of the group was discussing plans for the future. Even though they were all only teenagers (Marco and Sasha being sixteen, everyone else being fifthteen), they were acting like mature adults about the situation at hand; well, for the most part. Armin was a little less mature than the others and always sounded very scared when the word "zombie" entered his ears. Jean was hardly paying any attention to the conversation. He was lost in thought and was staring longingly at Mikasa, who could not care less about him.  
"Alright, so let's discuss jobs. Everyone here has to do something to contribute to our survival in some way. Currently, Armin is our fisherman and Mikasa is our chef. I am the leader, but I've also been on guard duty. So what skills can you offer us?" Eren directed his words at the four newcommers.  
"Well, in our previous setup where it was just the four of us, Sasha was a hunter and a great one at that. Connie's always been pretty good with navigation and tracking and usually went with Sasha on hunting trips," Marco said.  
"Good! We can give 'em some weapons and send them to hunt some animals down for us," Eren raised his voice to catch their attention at the other end of the table. "How's that sound, you two?"  
Sasha and Connie looked over at him, confused at first. Once they were informed of what they were talking about, the two happily agreed to be hunters full time.  
"And Marco? What are you good at?" Eren asked.  
"Me? Oh, I always wanted to be a police officer. Jean and I both did. Maybe we can take over the guard route for you so you can focus on being a leader?" Marco smiled.  
"Sounds good. With two people on guard duty, we'll certainly be safer. What do you think, Jean?" Jean was silent. "Jean? Hello?"  
Jean snapped back down to Earth with a jolt. He had totally tuned out everyone else. The only thing that had been on his mind for the entire conversation thus far was Mikasa. He blinked a few times and sat up straight.  
"Hey, buddy. Welcome back. You wanna be on guard duty with Marco?" Eren asked, slightly laughing.  
"Oh, um, yeah... Yeah, I'd like that. Will weapons be supplied?" Jean asked.  
Eren shook his head. "I thought you already have knives or guns to take with you since you came so far..."  
"Oh! Yeah, I'm stupid. Duh. Got a switchblade on my hip," Jean blushed lightly and rested his face in his hands. "God, what is wrong with me right now?" He said quietly.  
"Okay, so now that that's all taken care of, I'll be able to act like a true leader. We're gonna need rules for everyone to follow, I'll write those up tomorrow. We're gonna need to get some gasoline for both the car and the generator for future use. You guys walked here, how far is it until the first town?"  
Jean thought for a bit. "Maybe an hour's walk from here?"  
Armin chimed in. "That's really far. I don't wanna go there. What if there are other people? Or..." He brought his voice to a whisper. "What if there's zombies?"  
"It's simple, Armin." Mikasa started. "We send two people together One could be in charge of carrying supplies and the other could act like their body guard. We just need two people willing to go."  
Jean raised his hand and boasted, "I'm a guard now, so I should go as a guard to our supply carrier! And I nominate Eren to go with me!"  
Eren was suprised at first. He was scared to go, surely, but he could not let that show. He was their leader, and if he showed weakness, that could spell disaster for his role. Eren calmed himself down and nodded in response. They decided to begin their walk right after breakfast the next day. 

"Jean, come on, we gotta start walking again or we might be seen by something," Eren said, leaning against a tree.  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. That type of bread just goes right through me, man. Sorry." Jean called from a short ways away.  
"Ugh, I don't need to know about your dietary problems. Just hurry up!"  
A couple minutes later, Jean came over to Eren and they got back on the road. The two of them were about half way to the town now. Their walk had been mostly silent, with a bit of light chit chat here and there. Jean had been choking on words he wanted to say for the entire trip so far. Finally, he let the words escape his throat.  
"So, Eren, about your sister..."  
"Mhmm?" Eren looked up at him.  
"You think I got a chance with her? Like, you know, can you hook me up?" Jean blushed a bit.  
Eren stopped in his tracks.  
"What?! You met her yesterday! How could you think I'd just 'hook you up' with her?"  
"Well, A man's got needs, ya' know? And in a situation like this where people are dying, we gotta keep the species going. I mean, if you're not gonna do it, I'm up for it."  
Eren placed a hand over his stomach. "I feel sick just thinking about that. Do you realise what you're even saying? What? Are you asking me for permission?"  
"Yeah! What d'ya think? I could take her down the road a little ways so we don't disturb anyone. She'd be safe with me. It's not like there's many options right now."  
Jean tried to convince Eren that it would be okay. There was no way Eren would ever just give his sister away like that. She was not something he could just trade away for any offer Jean might have up his sleeve. Eventually, after a ten minute long arguement, Jean dropped the subject and gave up trying to reason with the shorter leader. The last twenty minutes of their walk was silent. Eren was slightly angry at Jean the whole time and refused to even look at him right now.  
They arrived at the town. It was a small town with only maybe sixty buildings in total. The place was deserted, but there were a few cars scattered about. Eren went up to each one and smelled them for gas. Empty... empty... empty. They went to the gas station and checked the tanks around back. Even those were empty. There was no fuel in the entire town. Eren told Jean to keep watch outside the door to the gas station while Eren went in to at least look for some food. He checked every shelf, every drawer, every nook and cranny of the gas station. There was nothing they could take. The place was picked clean. So far, their whole walk had been in vain. Eren sighed. He walked out the front door, and looked around for Jean. He was nowhere to be seen.  
"Jean?" Eren called out. "Jean?! This isn't funny!"  
Eren took a couple steps forward. Suddenly, he felt a hand cover his mouth and a cool, sharp blade against his neck. The blade dug into his skin some, but it was thankfully not cutting him. It was angled in such a way that suggested whoever was behind him was shorter than him, and by a signifigant amount. A feminine voice spoke into his ear.  
"Don't make any sudden movements. Don't fight back. Don't reach for the gun in your pants. You don't want this to get bloody."  
Eren made a muffled sound to show he understood. He slowly raised his hands in surrender to show he would not fight back. The person behind him turned him to the left to face Jean, who was in a similar situation. Jean waved slightly. There was a hooded figure behind him holding Jean's knife to his neck. The figure covered his mouth with their hand. The person behind him looked very short, much shorter than Jean anyway. Jean and Eren were forced onto their knees, hands on their heads. A tall hooded figure came out from behind the building to talk to them. They removed their hood and revealed their face to them. She was quite tan, with dark brown hair and light freckles. Her short hair was in a loose ponytail and her bangs covered her face.  
"Alright boys. You came here for gas, yes? Well, you're going back empty handed because there is none here for you to take. And I mean literally empty handed. If you know what's good for you, you'll do as I say and give us everything you've got on you," She spoke sternly with a slightly deeper voice than you'd expect from a girl.  
Eren lifted his head to meet her eyes. The person behind him released his mouth but kept the blade to his throat.  
"Why should we do what you say? Why not just let us go back home if we haven't done anything to you?" Eren said.  
Jean looked at him, wide-eyed. The tall woman walked over to him and crouched down to about eye level.  
"Because we could use your weapons. If you don't comply, I could easily give my girls here the command to slit your throats right here and now, but I'd prefer not to have that happen, now wouldn't you agree?"  
Eren's eyebrows furrowed in anger. He was not about to give her his gun, that's for sure. He instead pushed his luck and spit in her face. She was taken back by his action, and stood up slowly. As she rose up, Eren realised that he probably just got himself killed. She whistled, and Eren's blood ran cold. Two very large men came out from around the corner. One was a little shorter than the other, but more muscular and had short blond hair. The other had lightly tanned skin and black hair slightly shorter than Eren's. She motioned something to them, and they approached Eren. The knife was removed from Eren's neck and the taller man picked Eren up by his armpits. His feet were more than four inches off the ground. The blond man stood in front of him and delivered a few good kicks to his stomach before the woman told him to stop. Eren was dropped and he collapsed on the ground, curling into a fetal position.  
She turned to Jean. "Got anything you'd like to add, horse-face?"  
Jean shook his head in reply. "Take my knife! I don't really need it! Take it and we'll be on our way! We'll never come back, swear!"  
Jean was released, his knife and small gun taken from him. They also took Eren's gun. The group left the two boys silently. Jean ran over to Eren, who was still curled up on the ground. He had gotten the wind knocked out of him and was having trouble breathing. He was even coughing up a little blood.  
"Oh, my God! Eren! I'm so sorry! I'm the worst guard ever, I know! I-I-I'll make it up to you, I swear!" Jean said sincerly.  
Jean picked up Eren bridal style and began the walk back to their camp. At some point during the first five minutes of the walk, Eren passed out in Jean's arms. At least now he seemed to be breathing normally.  
"Don't worry, Eren. You're gonna be okay." Jean said to the sleeping boy in his arms. "You'll be fine. I promise."


	3. Accident

Jean could see the camp sites over the horizon. They were so close to home. He had been running for the past fourty-five minutes with Eren in his arms. Eren had been fast asleep the almost entire trip; he had only woken up five minutes ago at which point Jean stopped running so Eren would be more comfortable. Jean was exhausted now, his legs like giant weights that hardly wanted to move. Marco was making his guard rounds when he saw them in the distance.  
"Jean! Eren! You're back!" Marco called, running over to them. "Eren, there's blood on your shirt! What happened?"  
Jean spoke in between heavy breaths, "We were... in the town... people were there... Kicked Eren... stole our weapons... No gas or food..."  
"Jean, you look half dead, give me Eren and go sit down. Lean on my shoulder if you have to," Marco said nicely.  
Jean shifted Eren into Marco's arms and walked over to the camp to rest. Marco brought Eren over and put him into the tent he, Mikasa, and Armin call theirs. Within seconds of arrival, Mikasa was at Eren's side.  
"Eren! What's wrong? Are you okay? Tell me what happened!" Mikasa grabbed Eren's hand and squeezed it tightly.  
Eren explained, "We went into the town, and all of the gas was gone. Every drop had been taken. I went into a shop to see if there was any food, which there was none of. When I came back out, some people ambushed us and said they were gonna steal our stuff. I spit in who looked to be their leader's face, and she sent her boulders of men at me. They kicked me a few times and then Jean surrendered after watching that unfold. They took our knives and my gun. I remember Jean picking me up, telling me I'd be okay, but I passed out after that and when I woke up we were almost home."  
Mikasa listened intently to every word her brother said. She had been taking a health class at school this year, so she knew a thing or two about injuries. She pushed on Eren's stomach, asking him if it hurt anywhere. He said no, and she breathed a sigh of relief. He was not bleeding internally. She wiped the dried blood from his face and decided to stay in the tent with him to keep him company. Eren thanked Marco and Marco went back to his rounds. Now that a few weapons had been stolen, between the seven of them there were only five knives of various types, a sling shot, and a metal bat. For looking so well off, they were certainly struggling in the weapons department.

Jean trotted down the path to meet up with Marco. He could not really do any guard work without his knife, but that wouldn't stop him from talking to his best friend on duty.  
"Marco, I don't think I'm cut out to be a guard after all."  
"What? Why's that?" Marco had a slight smile on his face like he always did.  
"I was supposed to keep our leader safe and I couldn't. My own knife was held to my throat by some hooded chick. I didn't fight back at all, I just watched Eren get beaten and then surrendered!" Jean's voice started cracking slightly.  
"C'mere," Marco lead Jean off the path so they had a better chance of not being spotted by someone or something. "You are not bad at this. You've wanted to be a police officer for as long as I've known you, and this is the closest thing we have at the moment. If not, it's better than what you want to be. From what I've heard, you're great at this job!"  
"No, I'm no-"  
"Yes, you are!" Marco cut him off. "You and Eren were nearly killed and you did the right thing by letting them take the stuff. You were highly outmatched, but you saved both of your lives. So what? A couple bruises and some missing knives? It could have been a lot worse, Jean! You're a lot braver than me, that's for sure."  
Jean smiled. Marco always knew how to give a good pep talk and lift anyone's spirits. He was always so up-beat about everything. Not once had Jean ever seen Marco sad about a situation. Marco pulled Jean in for a hug, and Jean returned the gesture. He needed that from him. Jean did not even want to let go. A couple tears escaped his eyes no matter how hard he tried to not let them fall.  
"Ugh, get a room you two," Sasha joked as she walked past Jean and Marco, her day's kills slung over her shoulder and Connie trailing shortly behind her.  
Jean and Marco quickly let go, light blush over their faces. It wasn't like it was weird or anything to hug a friend, but Sasha and Connie sneaking up on them like that and pointing it out was kind of embarassing. Connie laughed and motioned them to get back to work with their rounds. No one wanted anything sneaking in and killing everyone.  
That night at dinner, Jean was very quiet. He chose not to look at anyone. It was slightly unusual for him to not be talking, which was the only thing he did other than stare at Mikasa with a creepy smile spread across his face.  
"Jean? Something wrong?" Armin asked, nudging his arm.  
Jean shook his head.  
"Jean's just upset because I interupted his little love-fest with Marco," Sasha teased from across the table.  
Jean's face turned red, which he tried to hide with his hands. Armin laughed.  
"Love-fest?"  
"It wasn't like that! It was just a hug!" Jean said, slightly angry at both of them.  
"Uh-huh, right, just a hug. Yeah, and we're at Disneyland," Connie said with a smile.  
"Oh, my God, you guys! Stop it! You know that that's not what was going on! I'm not... I'm not gay," Jean's voice was somewhere between talking and yelling, but on the last line he got kind of quiet.  
A couple "Mmhmmm"s came from Sasha and Connie.  
"I'm not! Why don't you believe me?!"  
"Because what we saw says differently," Sasha said.  
Jean frowned at her, his cheeks red as tomatoes. He thought quickly, but did not really think much at all. He heard footsteps behind him of people coming back to the table from the bathroom, and he made his choice right then and there. He turned around quickly in his seat, grabbed the chin of the person walking back, pulled them down and pressed his lips to theirs. Jean closed his eyes and tilted his head to deepen the suprise kiss. This was a shock to everybody at the table. Armin and Eren gasped; even Sasha was a little suprised. After about five seconds, Jean slowly released his grip and pulled away, smiling.  
"What was that for?" Marco asked.  
Jean's eyes shot open. Mikasa was still a couple feet away. He kissed Marco on accident. His whole face was bright red. Jean was trying to say something, but all the words were caught in his throat and his mouth was moving like a fish trying to breath on land. Marco sat down next to him and smiled at everyone. Everyone just stared at both of them in complete shock. Marco was not even blushing or anything. The table was silent for a long time, Marco just looking around with an ear-to-ear smile plastered on his freckled face.  
Finally, Eren broke the silence. "Well, in the words of Jean, 'A man's got needs.'"  
Everyone started laughing. Everyone but Jean and Marco. Jean wanted to say that he did not mean it, that that kiss was meant for Mikasa, but Marco just looked so happy that he could not bear to say it. Jean was sure he himself was straight, and this whole time he thought the same of Marco. But Marco's reaction to the kiss was something Jean never expected. He knew no one would ever let him live this down. He probably had no chance with Mikasa now as well. But maybe... it wouldn't be so bad?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, super short chapter, I know. I was having trouble writing this one because it was just so funny to me. Next chapter will be a bit longer, promise.
> 
> Also, Jean and Marco are just so cute together! =)


	4. Fight Back

Eren rang his makeshift bell, calling everyone to the table. It was a windy Autumn day and a few days had passed since their trip to the town. The noon sun shone down on them. Once they had all arrived and taken their seats, Eren spoke.  
"Okay, everyone! This is an official meeting! Everyone should be paying attention. If you have something to say, please just raise your hand. Now, I can't be the only one that knows we need those guns back. They were our only guns and they were stolen a few days ago. Without those guns, we may as well have nothing! So I think we should ambush them and take them back,"  
Armin raised his hand. "Yes, Armin?"  
"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, they sound a lot stronger than us, what if they catch us and kill us?"  
"That will not happen," Eren assured. "It won't because we have the trees on our side. We can be sneaky. Climb the trees and go along the rooftops until we find where they keep their stuff. Then, we jump down and attack."  
Connie's hand shot up. "Is everyone supposed to go?"  
"Good question. No, one person will stay behind to watch over the camp. They will be in charge of making sure nothing of ours is stolen and that no zombies or animals are in the area. Any volunteers?" Eren looked about the table for any hands.  
No one wanted to volunteer for that job. Everything would be on their watch. If anything went wrong, they would be the only one to blame for letting it happen. After a short silence, Jean slammed his hands down on the table and sprang up.  
"I would like to prove that I can still be a good guard and stay behind!" Jean said.  
"Alright, good luck Jean. Everyone else, grab a weapon and let's get going," Eren said.  
The group dispersed to grab their weapons. They chose to give Jean a knife and the sling shot so that he would be better equipt for his job. Everyone else grabbed a knife and Eren took the bat. Marco suggested that they take the van since they had nearly the entire group going, which was approved. They had enough gas to get them there, and hopefully the other group had some gas stockpiled. Everyone hopped into the van, with Marco driving, Eren riding shotgun, Mikasa and Armin in the second row, and Sasha and Connie in the third.  
The drive was short and went off without a hitch. Marco parked the car just out of sight of the town and they all hopped out. They ran and scattered into the forest around the town. Each person climbed a different tree and jumbed onto a roof. They surveyed the town, but not a single life could be seen. Finally, after a few minutes, Eren spotted the taller, dark haired guard from before. He appeared to be making patrol rounds. Eren made sure the coast was clear, then sprang down from the rooftop. He brought the metal bat down on the guard's head full force, knocking him out. They decided to bring him into a nearby house and tie him up.  
They carried him into the building and set him in a chair from the dining room. His hands and feet were bound to the chair, as well as a rope around his chest and legs. They blindfolded him with a spare cloth and waited for him to wake up. Once the guard was awake, they got to work.  
"Ah, good morning, sleepy head. How're you feeling?" Eren cooed as if he cared.  
"Untie me right now! You're in big trouble, kid!" The guard turned his head as if trying to see Eren, but he was still blindfolded.  
"Can't do that, sir. But you can tell me where you put my guns," Eren said.  
"Not gonna happen."  
"Alright. I didn't want to do this, but..."  
Eren stood to the side of the guard. He brought the bat up and swung it as hard as he could into the guard's stomach. The guard could not breathe for a bit after that. He certainly would have doubled over if he were not tied up. Eren waited for him to regain his breath before speaking.  
"Now, where are my guns?"  
"Maybe it's down my pants. Wanna find out?" the guard smiled.  
Eren scoffed. "Oh please. If a gun was in there I'd be able to see something. Now tell me the truth."  
The guard shook his head. Eren hit him with the bat again, causing him to gag a little. The guard still refused to tell them where the guns were. Connie removed the blindfold so that he could see Eren standing in front of him, bat in hand. Everyone else was behind the chair and could not be seen by the guard. The guard blinked a few times, his eyes still adjusting to the light. Eren brought the bat up and down in his hands, the noise of the metal hitting his palm echoing throughout the room.  
"What's your name?" Eren asked.  
"Why should I tell you?" the guard spat.  
Eren gave a wave of his hand, signalling Marco to get into position. Marco grabbed a fistful of the guard's hair, holding his head up and in place. In his other hand, he held his knife to the guard's neck.  
"Now I'll ask you again," Eren said. "What's your name?"  
The guard gulped slightly. "B... Bertolt..."  
"Hmm... Bertolt... Nice name. Where are your friends, Bertolt?" Eren asked.  
"Y-Ymir took them out on a trip. Told me to stay behind and keep watch."  
"Where did they go?"  
"Up the road a ways. Didn't give me a name of the place, but I'd suspect it's just a hunting trip in the forest."  
"Alright. Now that you seem to be co-operating a little more, would you mind telling me where I can find my guns?" Eren got close to him.  
"Yes, yes I would mind," Bertolt slightly chuckled.  
Eren frowned. He motioned Sasha over, who brought her knife down into the side of Bertolt's leg. This caused him to scream in pain. He took sharp breaths through gritted teeth.  
"Where are my guns?" Eren asked coldly.  
"You'll never get me to talk... GAAH!" Sasha twisted the knife in his leg. "Okay! Okay! I surrender!" He panted heavily. "Across the street, in that red building there. Door's locked, key's on my belt. Take it."  
"Thank you, Bertolt. Mikasa, Armin, you heard him. Go fill up the bags," Eren said, standing up.  
Mikasa grabbed the key, and she and Armin went over to the building to grab everything they could. After a few minutes, Armin poked his head out the door and called to everyone.  
"Hey! There's a girl in here! She was taking inventory and we pinned her down, what do we do with her?!"  
Eren thought for a moment, then called back, "Let's take her prisoner! Maybe we can use her!"  
Armin nodded and went back into the building. A short while later, they came out with bags stuffed and a little girl with her hands bound behind her back. Sasha pulled her knife from Bertolt's leg and they began walking back to the car.  
"Hey! You gonna untie me?!" Bertolt called behind them.  
No one said anything to him. They just kept walking. He kept yelling at them but none of them answered his cries. They loaded the bags into the trunk and got back in their seats with their prisoner between Sasha and Connie. The girl they took was a short, dainty little thing. She had light blonde hair down to her shoulders and sky blue eyes. She looked no older than ten, but she claimed to be fifthteen.

They arrived back at the camp site and parked the car back where it had been before they left. Jean was still sitting at his post and claimed nothing had happened while they were gone. They put their stolen goods into storage and grabbed a few yards of rope. With the rope, they tied a knot around a tree and connected the captured girl to the tree, giving her the freedom to stand, walk, and sit but still keeping her around one spot.  
Now their food supply was fully stocked, they had three guns and a few extra clips for each one, a few gallons of gas, and a tiny prisoner. After some debate about her, they came to the decision that she could be used like a sort of slave until further notice. Maybe she could be used as ransom to the group she came from. If it came down to it, she could be sacrificed to a zombie horde so everyone in the group could get away. Eren called another meeting to announce to everyone the rules he had been writing over the past few days.  
Rules for Camp Members-  
Rule 1: Do not steal from the camp storehouse.  
Rule 2: Do not kill group members.  
Rule 3: Use the buddy system when walking farther than 100 feet from camp.  
Rule 4: Curfew is 10 pm, you may only leave your tent for bathroom purposes.  
Rule 5: Ask permission from leader before using car or generator.  
Rule 6: All members must contribute to the group's survival in some way.  
Rule 7: No consumption of any form of drugs or alcohol.  
Rule 8: Don't rape people.  
Rules for Interaction with Prisoners-  
Rule 1: Only kill prisoners if they escape or kill group members.  
Rule 2: Do not untie prisoners.  
Rule 3: Prisoners may recieve one meal per day, at lunch time.  
Rule 4: If a prisoner is tortured, all torture must stop when blood can be seen.  
Eren finished reading off the rules, then posted them to the side of the food storage box so they could be viewed later. Everyone understood the rules and promised to follow them. Breaking the rules was to result in becoming a prisoner. From there, depending on the crime commited, they may be exiled or killed. Everyone agreed and the meeting was adjourned. Armin went to go speak with the prisoner.  
"So what's your name? Or do you want us to just call you 'Prisoner?'" Armin asked.  
"My name's Crista," She had a very high-pitched voice. "Am I gonna get to go home?"  
"Doesn't sound like it. From what I understand, you'll be doing various jobs around camp. If your group cares about you enough, maybe they'll trade something for you."  
Crista shook her head. "Ymir's not one to barter. It's not like I can really be of much use to you guys anyway."  
"Don't underestimate yourself. Even while you're tied up, you'll have jobs. For now, can you tell me who this 'Ymir' person is?" Armin sat backwards on the picnic table bench across from the tree.  
"She's our group's leader. Really tall. Short brown hair. Kinda mean, but she's pretty nice to me. Maybe because I'm so small. She has a much different leading style than who's in charge here."  
Armin nodded, and Christa continued to talk of her group. They were only a group of five. The group was made up of herself, leader Ymir, guards Reiner and Bertolt, and assassin Annie. She described Reiner to be a very tall blond built like a gymnast but as flexable and sturdy as a tree. Annie was a short, blonde, stone-faced girl and a world-class level fighter, only she chose not to go to any events or classes and was fully self taught. They both sounded very threatening. Armin tried his best to not look scared by her description of them, but his expresive face showed his fear no matter what.  
Armin took the information to Eren. Eren as well was now afraid of the choices he had made today. Most likely, Ymir was going to bring her two blond goons over and kill everybody. There was not much they could do about that at the moment. There were no fighters among them. Crista told them that based on the sun's current position in the sky, Ymir, Annie, and Reiner were probably back at base from their hunting trip by now. That means that they have seen Bertolt and noticed a good chunk of their supplies are missing, plus Crista is gone. They will certainly be angry about that, but they have no idea what Ymir will do.  
Eren thought for a bit. If they do come over here to attack, they will be within sight of the camp before dinner is served. Even if they were not going to come today, the risk of staying was too great. Eren told everyone to begin taking down the tents and pack everything into the van. This place had been perfect the past couple of weeks, but it was time to move. Where they would go no one was sure about. Hopefully they would have enough gas to get them far, far away from this place.  
About eighty percent of their supplies were packed before Mikasa looked down the road and saw a group of three coming up the road. She called out to everyone that they were here and everyone bust into gear. The rest of what they could fit into the car was loaded and everyone got in. This time Sasha was driving and Connie rode shotgun to give directions. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin sat together in the middle row, and Jean and Marco sat in the back row on either side of Crista to guard her and make sure she did not try to escape. Even though her wrists and ankles were bound, they were unsure of how much she was truely capable of.  
They started the car and sped off down the road. They drove past Ymir, Annie, and Reiner who looked very angry and upset. Everyone was cheering as they drove away. They hatched a plan as they drove through the mountain roads. The idea was to get to the coast, find a boat, and claim an island. As far as they knew, zombies were not going to be the best swimmers. They could clear out an island and make it theirs. They could have a safe, quarentine town with farms and houses. It sounded like the best idea they could ever have. So, Connie got them on the right track to the closest ocean on the West coast. It would be a long trip, but if they had enough gas they could get there within five hours.


	5. Welcome to Shinganshina

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, two chapters in one day! I love writing this so much that I didn't want to wait to post the next chapter. I want to get to all the twists and turns I have planned an quickly as possible! ;)

The sun was touching the horizon now. The sky around it was turning bright orange. The entire car and all its contents were outlined in faint orange. They were driving across the long bridge over the river that lead into Shinganshina. They had been driving for the past two hours straight Armin and Crista had fallen asleep a while ago. Sasha decided that once they crossed the bridge she'd pull over and everyone could get something to eat from the trunk.  
They came to the end of the bridge, pulled over, and stopped the car. Everyone got out and stretched while Eren popped open the trunk and fished out the bag of food. After a quick construction of sandwiches, food was given out to everyone. Because they were going into a big city now, everything was a little more risky. There could be hostile people, zombies, anything. It was also much easier to get lost in the city. After resting for a few minutes, Sasha hopped back into the driver's seat to start the car up again. Sasha revved the engine, but it would not start.  
"Hey, guys! Uh... We've got a problem!" Sasha called to the group.  
"What's wrong?" Eren asked.  
"Car won't start," She said, walking around to the hood of the car.  
Eren stood next to her as she lifted the hood of the car. Everything looked normal inside. No smoke, nothing broken, everything was fine as far as they could see.  
"There's gas in the tank, right?" Eren asked.  
"Yeah, the gauge said there was at least a couple gallons in there," Sasha said.  
Eren walked back over to the group by the trunk. "Anybody know a thing or two about cars?"  
Everyone exchanged glances and knew none of them knew anything about cars other than how to put gas in and how to turn the key. There was a quiet voice that came up from someone in the group.  
"What was that?" Eren asked.  
Crista looked up at him. "My dad did car repairs. I picked up a little from him. Maybe I can figure out what's wrong."  
Eren led Crista over to the front of the car and had to lift her up so she could see everything better. She stared at the innards of the car for a bit silently. Her eyes darted around, searching every little bit of metal. She looked to be deep in thought. After some time, she told Eren to put her back on the ground.  
"Simple. The battery's dead. It just needs a jump start," She said, smiling.  
"But doesn't that require another car? And jumper cables? We don't have those," Sasha complained.  
"Well, that's all you can do. Sorry," Crista said sweetly.  
"Ugh..." Eren looked around nervously. "We should find some place to stay for the time being. I can't help but feel like we're being watched."  
"Yeah, I feel it too," Sasha, Eren, and Crista went back to join the rest of the group. "Alright, everyone! Grab everything you can carry! We need to get into a building for the night. I thing that doughnut shop down the street looks like it will do for now. Let's get to work, it'll be dark soon!" Eren instructed.  
Everyone did as they were told and carried everything they possibly could at one time. They had just enough people and just the right amount of stuff to make it all in one trip, but if they were going to walk all the way to the coast they'd need to lighten their load by a signifigant amount. They set up air matresses along the floor of the doughnut shop. They were laid in a big row side by side which took away the privacy of the camp site set up, but everyone would be together and they saw that as safer for the time being. They stocked the food behind the counter, weapons went close to the matresses for if they woke up and needed them.  
Marco went through the shop and inspected every nook and cranny he could get to. No broken windows, all the locks that did not require a key were working. He inspected the bathrooms, which were kind of dark and creepy. He attempted to flush the toilets, but the plumbing was no longer working. He only half-expected it to work, anyway. There was no electricity in the building either. Marco came back to the main room and told them the shop looked safe and secure from zombies. Their three lanterns were lit and placed around the main room. The sky was dark now and Armin's watch said it was getting close to ten. Pretty soon, everyone was tired and they all settled down on the matresses to get some sleep.

The next morning, it was evident that there were some snugglers in the group. Before, everyone slept reletively seperate with things dividing the matresses into sections within the tents. Now, however, that was not the case. Mikasa woke up before anyone else. She could feel Marco's back against her's. She did her best to get up from the matress without disturbing him, and was successful in doing so. She saw that at the end closest to the wall, Sasha and Connie had at some point during the night snuggled up close to each other. Mikasa thought they looked a little funny together like that because Connie was so much shorter than Sasha and he had turned to that his head was against her chest. She looked back over at Marco, who had apparently curled up next to Jean in a sort of loose spooning-like position with his arms around Jean's chest. Mikasa had a flash of inspiration and turned on her phone, which she had had turned off for the past couple weeks to save the battery for emergencies. She turned it on and took a picture of Jean and Marco because they just looked so cute like that and it was not possible to not be able to show that to people.  
Mikasa turned her phone back off and put it back in her pocket. While looking over the matresses, she noticed something. Eren was missing. Being his sister, she was immediately worried and ran outside in her pajamas to look around for him. She ran around the whole block, around the car, and looked in the windows of every building she passed in the process. He was no where to be found. She was calling his name over and over, which she knew might attract unwanted attention but this was just too important. Did he go out to the bathroom last night and get attacked by zombies? The mere thought of that happening brought tears to her eyes. She went back into the doughnut shop and woke everybody up to tell them Eren was missing.  
No one wanted to hear the words 'Eren's missing,' but that was what she said. Not a single person bothered to get dressed, they just began searching the shop and the area around the shop within a two block radius. There was no sign of their leader. No blood, no struggle, nothing was missing from their inventory. Finally, Armin found a piece of paper attatched to the steering wheel of their van. He brought the paper to everyone and read it aloud.  
"Welcome to Shinganshina! Feel like someone's watching you yesterday? Well, you were right. We have taken the boy who looks to be your leader. If you wish to see him alive again, bring your whole group to the mall on Maria Street. You can't miss it. Come unarmed and you won't be harmed. Signed, W.O.F."  
Mikasa was immediately concealing weapons and heading out the door. Jean grabbed her by the wrist and stopped her.  
"Mikasa, what're you doing? The note said to be unarmed!"  
Mikasa gave him an angry glare. "I'm getting my brother back."  
"Leave the knives here! We're all going to go, it'll be fine," Jean said.  
Mikasa growled slightly, but listened to him and put her weapons back. Everyone got dressed and grabbed some food to eat on the way to the location on the note. There were simple directions on the back of the paper, and they found the place about thirty minutes later.  
Since Jean and Marco were the guards, they opened the doors and entered the building first. This place was HUGE. Two floors stretched as far as the eye could see in either direction with a large fountain in front of them. The water was not flowing, of course, but it still looked beautiful. The shops looked to have been converted into living arrangements almost like small apartments.  
Mikasa called out into the building as loudly as she could, "We're here! Now give us back out leader!"  
The building was silent. No one moved. The slightly dark body of the building cast an all over uneasiness on everyone. Suddenly, a blur of color shot past them in the air, followed by a loud yell. Two more blurs of differing sizes flew by. They arched back around and fell to the ground with parkour-style rolls. The blurs had been people hanging on to ropes dangling from the ceiling. They attatched clasps to the end of the ropes, which where then hoisted back up to their starting positions on the second floor by people they could not see from here.  
Standing before the group now were two men and one woman. The woman wore glasses with a strap on the back so they would not fall off while swinging on the rope. She had brown hair with a slight red tint in a high, messy ponytail and messy bangs. The taller of the two men had neat, slicked back blond hair and very strangely trimmed eyebrows. He was much taller than the other two and was chiseled like a marble statue. The shorter man was extremely short and he had black hair styled in a clean, sleak undercut. His face seemed to be fixated in a perpetual pissed off expression and he had some sort of fancy neck tie around the collar of his shirt. He stepped forward, arms tightly crossed over his chest.  
"Welcome to Mall Maria. You're here for your leader, yes?" he asks with a very monotone voice.  
"Where is he?" Mikasa slightly growled.  
"Calm down, kiddo. We'll take you to him, follow me," he motioned them to follow.  
The shorter man walked in front of the group, leading them down the walkway. Behind the group was the taller man and the woman. They both were checking for concealed weapons from afar, looking for unusual bumps in their clothes. The walk felt like it went on forever. They walked together until they came to a small shop with the metal security door brought down and locked to the floor. They could see through the diamond-shaped holes in the door that the shelves in the shop had been positioned to section off the shop. In one of the sections sat Eren, his wrists bound together.  
Eren looked up at them and smiled, walking over to the door to greet them. He had been stolen away from them in the middle of the night and had been given someone's jacket to help keep him warm during the cool late-fall night. He was happy to see everyone, but he didn't look sad to be in the cell. Mikasa asked frantic questions and Eren calmly answered all of them as best as he could. She felt the need to thoroughly scan over him though the metal wire to look for any cuts or marks on his skin. When she saw that there were none, she breathed a sigh of relief.  
The metal door was pulled up and Eren was brought out. The ties around his wrists were removed. Mikasa squeezed him so tight he could hardly breathe. Pretty soon, the whole group gathered around their leader and welcomed him back. After a few seconds, the tall blond man did his best to separate everyone.  
"Okay, that's enough. You guys aren't leaving just yet," he said in quite a deep voice.  
"Oh, that's right!" the woman chimed, "I almost forgot! We need to have a little chat."  
Eren looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. "Chat? You never told me about any chat. You said when that my friends came you'd let me go."  
"Well, that changed," the shorter man waved them to follow. "Come on, grimy kids. We don't have all day."  
They walked upstairs to what was once one of the much larger stores in the mall. In it there was a large table made up of smaller tables and a mixture of different chair sets. The entire table could seat eighteen people. Everyone was told to take a seat, which they did. Eren sat at the southern head of the table and the tall man sat at the northern head. Both groups divided, sitting in the seats closest to their leader with a few seats inbetween the two groups. Once everyone was settled, the tall man cleared his throat and spoke.  
"Welcome, new-comers. I am the leader here, my name is Erwin. To my left is our military director, Levi. On my right is our resident scientist and nutcase, Hanji. Our men on lookout duty saw you arrive and we just wanted to let you know that this town is our territory and we can't have you taking up residence in the doughnut shop. We have talked it over, and we think you look like you could be of use to us. So, how would you like to live in the comfort and security of Mall Maria?"  
The group was silent for a moment, then turned to each other and exchanged whispers in debate over the idea. Once their whispers had settled, Eren gathered his thoughts and replied.  
"Well, this place looks amazing. Love the atmosphere, you've cleaned it up nicely. But your method of getting us all here was a little... unorthodox. If we stay here, what are the conditions?"  
This time, Levi gave an answer.  
"If you stay here, you will be given the comforts of a warm bed, hot home-cooked meals, electricity, and safety. You will recieve showers, your clothes will be washed, we have working bathrooms, and you can either have a room mate or have a room to yourself. All this for the low, low price of joining our military. We could use brats like you. All of you."  
They talked it over in whispers again. The group argued over if they should stay here or just ask if they could fix their van so they could get back on the road. After a little whisper-yelling from a couple people, a verdict was reached and Eren stood in front of his chair.  
"After some debate, we have decided that we accept your offer. I will give up my roll as a leader and we will work for Levi and follow orders from our military captain and our new leader."  
Hanji jumped from her seat, a huge smile across her face. She grabbed as many people in her arms as she could.  
"Ooooh, that's fantastic to hear! You'll love it here, I promise! Now, split into pairs. Whoever you go with, that's who you'll be rooming with. If you'd prefer to go alone, that's fine too. Aaaannnnd, GO!"  
Connie and Sasha naturally went together as if they were doing a school project and the teacher let them choose their groups. Marco hesitated at first, but quickly grabbed Jean's hand, which caught Jean off guard. He had been about to grab Mikasa, but figured going with his best friend would be better. Mikasa snatched up Eren's arm in a death grip. He tried to shake her off in favor of being alone, but she refused to let go. Armin went with Crista. She needed someone to guard her at all times because they were still a little afraid that she might run off back to her old group. Hanji saw everyone was paired up and she rested her hands on her hips.  
"Alright, four pairs. All set?" She said happily.  
Eren raised his hand that was not being squeezed to death by his sister. "Actually, I'd like to be alone. Can you pry her off me please?"  
Levi and Hanji had to work together to pull Mikasa away. Mikasa didn't see any reason that they could not room together, when the reason was obvious. Eren did not want to, and Erwin did not want anyone living here to be unhappy. He felt an ex-leader's feelings should be of higher value than an ex-leader's adopted sister. Once Mikasa had been pulled off, Hanji showed everyone to their rooms. Each one was on the second level of the mall and had once been different stores.  
Each room looked like a studio apartment without a bathroom. On each one, the metal shudder door acted as the only door in or out and could be locked if it needed to be. The standard furniture sat in each one for the amount of people it could hold. Each room contained a twin-size bed, a nightstand next to said bed, and a dresser. In rooms built for two, the furniture was doubled. Hanji told them that they could customize their room with some furniture that they had lying away in a storage area, as well as anything they found around the town.  
"Alrighty!" Hanji said after showing everyone which room would belong to them. "Go ahead and get settled. We'll have some people go collect all of your things from the doughnut shop and you can find what belongs to you once it gets here. Lunch is served in... three hours. Make yourselves comfortable! If you need anything, anything at all, ladies come to me and boys go to Erwin. If both of us are unavailable, Levi should be able to handle any issues you have. See you later!"


	6. Chapter 6

A loud buzz came over the loudspeaker. The sound generated from the speakers sounded similar to a school bell. After it had stopped, a voice came over the speaker calling out, "Lunch time! Come to the dining room for your meal!" Everyone made their way down to the room that they had had the meeting in, which they assumed was also the dining room. Their assumption was correct. People were taking their seats and Hanji was bringing out food on large platters to be passed around. The two groups blended together as one for the first time, not trying to sit seperately at the table. There were three empty seats left over once everyone had sat down.  
There were quite a few unfamiliar faces at the table. There was a girl who had helped cook the food. She had short, strawberry-blonde hair and amber eyes. She was short, only slightly shorter than Levi. She introduced herself as Petra. Next to her was a much taller man but he still paled in comparison to Erwin. His hair was styled in a slightly curled undercut with similar coloring to Jean's. Because of how he dressed and how he tried to hold his expression, he looked like a Levi wanna-be. But he was not; he was called Auruo. Across from Auruo was a man that easily towered over Erwin. His blond hair hung over his forehead and was parted down the middle. He really seemed to like smelling Eren next to him. He was introduced by Hanji as Mike.  
Down the table a little ways was a blond man with longish hair kept in a sort of folded ponytail. He had brown eyes which was strange to see on a blond person. He introduced himself as Eld. Across from him was a man with a very strange hair style; he had brown hair slicked back to a point. He was slightly darker than the others as well. He was called Gunther. The large plates of food were passed around the table and everyone took however much they wanted. Sasha naturally wanted to just take the whole plate for every type of food, but Connie forced her to only take a maximum of 1/12th of whatever was on the plate and then pass it down. Well, even that much smaller amount built up after all the food had been passed around and her plate still ended up looking like Mt. Everest. The new people who did not know about her eating habits were quite suprised at how much she had on her plate. They were even more suprised when she ate the whole thing and asked if she could have more. This request was declined.  
After lunch had ended, Eld and Gunther lead Eren and his friends to their things, which they had finished bringing over from the doughnut shop and had placed by the fountain. They sorted through everything, taking what was theirs and leaving the rest to go into storage. They put all the food into the kitchen as well as all of their cooking supplies and dinnerware. The matresses, tents, and lanterns went into storage for if they ever needed them. Everyone brought their things to their rooms, folding and putting away clothes and making their beds. Once everyone had fully settled in, Levi came by to take three of them for shooting practice. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin decided to go first. They were given some air-powered BB rifles and pistols to shoot at targets for training. And they certainly needed the training. They had never even had to use the guns they had, and almost every shot from all three of them was a miss. Levi sighed. He had a lot of work ahead of him.

While those three were gone, Jean pulled Marco into their room and pulled down the metal door, locking it in place. He did not want anyone to interupt their conversation. Jean had had this heavy weight on his shoulders ever since that night a couple weeks ago when he accidently kissed Marco. They didn't really ever bring it up again after that. But Jean felt that he needed to get how he felt now off his chest. Marco sat on his bed and Jean sat next to him, breathing a heavy sigh as he sat down.  
"So, Marco..." Jean started, quite nervous, "remember when, um, I kissed you?"  
Marco nodded and smiled. Jean's cheeks were lightly tinted pink.  
"Okay, so we're... we're good friends, and I've never felt any more than that. But that night has been sitting with me for a while now, and..."  
Jean felt like there was a lump of words in his throat choking him. He had never been good with words or confessing things. All his crushes from middle school never became more than a crush because he had never been able to say anything to them. But this time would be different. He had to say something now, he had already started.  
"Marco... because of that kiss, I have started to develop feelings for you and that has made me question myself. I'm not sure if what I'm feeling is the same level as love, but I can hardly look at you without feeling nervous. And yet, you don't seem bothered at all by it. You weren't embarrassed like I was when it happened."  
"I wasn't embarrassed because I was happy!" Marco quickly replied, cutting off the sentence he was about to start. "Honestly, I had wanted to do that for almost the entire time I had known you, I just didn't because I thought you would get upset."  
"Oh, so you feel kind of like I do then?" Jean looked up at him, but quickly looked back down because he could feel his cheeks getting hot. "Well, that's good, I think. But I just... I don't want to, to commit to anything. I- I still like Mikasa and everything. Don't get me wrong, you're the best friend a guy could ever ask for. But I don't know if I-"  
Marco leaned down and pressed his lips to Jean's, cutting him off. Jean was caught by suprise, but pretty soon his eyes drifted shut.  
Since their first kiss, Jean had been drowning in thought. He had been unsure of his relationship with Marco, if they were still friends or more so. He had wondered if there was still time to turn back and still have a chance with Mikasa. He didn't feel like that kiss meant anything because it was an accident. But this second kiss. This was no accident. And it felt like it should have happened sooner.  
Marco pulled away slowly and smiled, "Do you know now?"  
Jean sat silent for a moment. He wasn't thinking, it just took a bit for his brain to register that there was nothing on his lips anymore. And when that happened and his brain told his mouth to form words, he said yes.  
"I'm not good with words, but I know how I feel now," He said.  
Jean pulled Marco in for another kiss. His cheeks were no longer red, and he felt more comfortable now. Jean brought his hands to the hem of Marco's shirt. He started pulling Marco's shirt up over his head, only breaking the kiss when the shirt was in the way. He tried to take his own shirt off as sexually as possible, but his lack of experiance made his movements less fluent than they could have been. Marco glanced over at the door. He looked slightly worried.  
"What? Afraid someone's gonna walk in? I locked the door," Jean assured him.  
"But it's not soundproof." Marco kept staring at the door as if it were going to magically turn into a dog any second and he wanted to make sure he saw it happen.  
"You're right," Jean smirked. "Well, I guess we'll just have to keep it quiet."  
Jean wrapped his arms loosly around Marco's neck and sat facing him on his lap. Marco looked up at him and relaxed. Jean slowly layed him down on the bed. He hovered over Marco on his hands and knees, then leaned down to kiss his neck. He brought a hand down to Marco's pants, feeling the growing bulge through his jeans. Jean placed kisses from his neck to his chest to his stomach.  
"Jean, do you know what you're doing?" Marco asks.  
"No, but I saw this in a couple porn videos. I have a general idea. Just relax."  
Jean fiddles with Marco's belt. It's a little more difficult from this angle, but Jean gets it undone. He starts to pull down Marco's pants and-  
BAM BAM BAM!!  
The sudden noise makes both of them jump a little, their skin turning visibly pale. They both freeze for a moment, then Jean turns to the locked door.  
"Who is it?!" Jean yells at the door.  
"It's Erwin! I'm putting both of you on duty with Eld and Gunther to get some more water from the river! They'll be waiting outside the door to your room, make sure your shoes are on and you're ready to go!"  
Jean quickly sprang to their shirts on the floor and threw Marco his. They got redressed as fast as possible and got their shoes on. Jean unlocked the door and slid the metal shutter up into place.  
"Ugh, what took you so long?" Eld asked.  
"Why do you care? Let's just go." Jean said, walking towards the stairs to the first floor.

"What, have you guys never held a gun before?!" Levi asked out of frustration.  
Eren, Mikasa, and Armin have been practicing their shooting with the BB guns and have missed nearly every shot. Eren was in charge of a gun for a while, but he never had to use it when they were at the camp site. Aside from picking up guns, none of them had held a gun before, let alone aimed and fired one. At the moment they were only using air-powered pistols, which Levi said should be easiest for them. Levi had to go up behind each of them and correct their stance entirely. Secure their hands, change their footing, teach them to look down the sight at the right angle, they were the worst marksmen he had ever seen.  
Once they all finally started hitting the targets for once, he sat down and let them shoot and practice. Levi was NOT looking forward to doing the same thing for the other five later today. After about ten minutes, they were hitting the center of the target or close to it pretty consistently. Levi stopped them and handed then their next gun: a rifle. Even though it was an air-powered gun, it still had the power of a real rifle and was pretty heavy. It kicked back much harder than the pistol. Armin nearly fell over with his first shot. Levi decided to show them all how to hold it by demonstration instead of trying to correct them individually. He picked up a rifle and aimed at a target. Levi instructed them on how to place their hands and how to make sure everything was lined up.  
"Alright, now when you pull the trigger you need to go a little slow. You don't want it to hit the grip, got it?"  
The three of them nodded and tried to copy his stance. At the end of Levi's demonstration, he fired at the target. The round went through the exact center of the paper. However, the gun shot off with a loud blast unlike the others. The noise made all of them jump, even Levi. He inspected the gun closely and noticed his mistake.  
"Oh... This gun's a real one. My bad. They look exactly the same, guess I picked up the wrong gun," Levi hopped over the barrier and inspected the wall. He cursed under his breath. "Yep, bullet went though the wall. I'll go make sure no one got hurt. Stay here and don't touch anything."  
Levi ran out of the room and out of sight. The three teens set their guns down and sat on the couch in the back of the room. This was the first time they could really take any note of the room. It was a makeshift shooting gallery with both fake and real guns on racks attatched to the walls. There were four shooting lanes with paper targets at the end. The area where you stood to shoot was made up of short display shelve and thin boxes to seperate them. There was a couple large boxes marked with ammo types in a corner. They even had a couple bows on a shelf and some arrows, but those were only for outdoor practice.  
It wasn't long before Levi came back into the room. He was relieved that the bullet he shot didn't hit anyone or damage anything other than a little hole in the wall. The hole would have to be patched up later. He told them to get back up and start practicing. Levi was about to sit down when Gunther came running up to the doorway.  
"Sir! We're back with the week's water supply from the river! Sorry it took so long, there's a lot more people now, so we had to get a lot of water."  
Levi glared up at him. "Why are you telling me this?"  
"Because Erwin is unavailable at this time, sir."  
Levi peered down the hall and saw a large pile of barrels filled with water. "Alright. Do you four need help carrying it all to the distillery?"  
Gunther nodded. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin were told to put away their guns and go help out. Levi didn't want to, but he pitched in as well. Each barrel had to be brought through the mall to a large shop at the far Eastern end. They were lined up against a wall as a queue line for being filtered and boiled.   
Each twenty gallon barrel of water had to be seperatly filtered through a large tub filled with layer upon layer of charcoal and sand. Once it all drained from there, it was to be boiled for about twenty minutes and placed back in its barrel on the other side of the room. It took a long time, but it worked and no one got sick.  
Once the job was done, Levi brought his three current students back to the shooting gallery and dismissed the other four to do whatever they pleased. He promised them that they would not be disturbed for a while because of the scale of the job they just finished. As Levi was walking back to the shooting gallery, he passed by the fountain and a sudden noise caught him off guard. It sounded like someone pounding on glass. Was it something upstairs? No, it was closer. To his left. The noise was coming from the front door to the mall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the huge tease with Jean and Marco. Smut is so awkward for me to write and I could no longer take myself seriously. But whenever the next time is, I won't do that... as much, at least. I can't predict the future.


	7. Horde

Levi looked to his left. His normally expressionless face grew tense. His eyes became noticably wider, his mouth hanging slightly open. His skin looked a little paler than usual. What reflected in his eyes through the glass doors was something he never wanted to see, but he knew would happen eventually. Behind the glass door stood a hunched over figure with scraggily hair sticking in clumps, knotted and tangled and matted with blood. Its face was slightly rotted and its eyes were white and empty. Torn clothes hang loosely over its body, a hand with a finger half missing was smacking against the glass of the door. Currently, there was one zombie at the door, but a group of them could be seen approaching behind it.  
Levi ran to the security office of the mall and hit the alarm button. A siren blared through the mall at a just below deafening volume, and the entire group knew what that alarm meant. Once the noise had registered in everyone's minds and they realised what was going on, everyone dropped whatever they were doing. They all sprang into action, grabbing guns and ammo from the weaponry. Not everyone had been trained yet, but they didn't have time to learn everything. As long as they knew how to pull a trigger, their skills would have to suffice.  
Everyone found their battle stations that had been planned previously in case anything like this ever happened. Hanji, Erwin, Eld, and Gunther stood on the second level with ropes in hand. Everyone else was in various locations on the first floor, Levi and Auruo aiming at the door from the fountain while the others stationed themselves behind things like escalators and shop entrances. They were waiting for the the zombies to come to them, because the other way around was not a good idea. There were so many zombies at the door that it looked like it would burst open at any second. It had been locked, but it was only glass and not the strongest of glass in the world.  
Pretty soon, the door gave way and the horde of zombies piled through. Levi and Auruo on the front lines fired away, landing as many headshots as they could. But there were too many. They were forced to back up, at which point everyone on the first floor was told to open fire. The gunshots could be heard all the way across town. Where all these zombies came from was not exactly clear. There were at least sixty of them in the building right now and more were on their way in. The four upstairs swung down on the ropes with butcher knives in hand. They were the closest things to swords that they had at the moment. They held the knives out, chopping heads as they swung. When they no longer had enough momentum to swing, they hoped down and attacked with full force.  
The battle with the zombies raged on for at least twenty minutes. When the gunfire subsided and the last zombie was dead, they quickly got to work patching up the door. They covered where the glass once was with wooden boards and relocked them with a chain and combination lock. Ewrin called a meeting to make sure everyone was okay. They gathered in the dining hall and Erwin went through a checklist in his head. He was silent, counting the heads in the room and placing faces to names. He went over the group once, twice, three times, making sure he was right. After a long silence, he spoke.  
"Where's Marco?"  
Everyone looked around the room. He wasn't here. Jean grew pale. He ran from the room, running through the mall calling out for Marco. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin ran after him quickly while the rest of the group searched the first floor together. The search didn't take long, and soon there was Mike's voice over the intercom.  
"Marco has been found. He's with Petra right now in the old jewlery shop on the first floor. We're bringing him to the infirmary, please bring us warm water and towels."  
Some people grabbed some water out of the boiling tub in the distillery and got a few towels. It was only a couple minutes before everyone was gathered at the infirmary. Hanji took some supplies and went into the room where Marco had been placed by Mike and Petra. She wanted everyone to stay out so it wouldn't be so crowded. Jean pleaded with Hanji to let him in, but she kept warning him that he didn't want to see what was behind the curtain. Jean chose not to listen and pushed past her to be with the man he loved.  
Mike and Petra were standing by Marco's bed pressing the towels to his neck. Marco was visibly shivering, his face petrified with agonizing pain. There was blood everywhere, soaking the top fourth Marco's shirt and coating his neck and right shoulder. Between the right middle of his neck and halfway across his shoulder there was a missing chunk of flesh. The wound was deep and bleeding profusely. When Jean saw this, he stopped in his tracks. His hand covered his mouth and tears streamed down his cheeks. He moved his heavy legs to walk and he fell to his knees at Marco's side. He took Marco's right hand in his own and squeezed it tightly.  
Jean spoke to him through choked breaths, "Marco! Marco, can you hear me? It's gonna be okay."  
"Jean?" Marco's voice was quiet and hoarse. He could hardly speak at all. "Is that... you?"  
"Yes, it's me!"  
"Jean... I'm scared..."  
"Don't be! It's okay, Marco. You're gonna be fine, got it? You'll be fine."  
"Don't... leave me... Please..."  
"I won't. I'll never let go of your hand. I swear."  
Hanji put on a pair of gloves and had a couple small tools in her hands. "We have to try and patch it up with surgery," She turned her attention to Marco. "We don't have much for anestesia so this might hurt a bit. Just bite down on this for me, okay?" She rolled up a towel and put it in Marco's mouth.  
Hanji got to work with needles and other small surgical tools, patching up the hole in Marco's neck. He was biting the towel with so much force that it seemed like he could bite through it. Muffled screams escaped through his teeth clenched around the fabric. He sqeezed Jean's hand like a woman does to her husband during labor. Mike and Petra had to hold him down with all their strength, and Hanji called Erwin in to help hold him down and keep him from thrashing too much.

Hanji tied off her stitching and gently dabbed away any leftover blood on Marco's neck and shoulder. Marco's neck had been successfully sutured up and he was alive and talking, but his voice was still a little raspy from screaming. Jean had been given a chair and was sitting by Marco's side, still holding his hand like he had promised. Hanji cleaned up the room and left them alone. Everyone had gone to work on getting rid of the zombie corpses a couple hours ago and it was just the two of them here.  
"How do you feel?" Jean asked.  
"Everything hurts. But I'm alive, so that's good," Marco smiled up at him.  
Jean chuckled slightly. "Can you move at all?"  
"Well, my legs are fine. But I don't want to turn my head or move my shoulder. That's gonna hurt for a while," Marco paused for a moment. "How does it look?"  
"Your neck? Well, it's a little swollen but other than that it's fine. You might get a cool scar from this."  
Marco's grip loosened a little bit. "I'm so tired... What time is it?"  
Jean checked the clock on the wall, "Almost eleven P.M."  
"I'm gonna go to sleep then..." Marco made an effort to scoot over on the bed. "Sleep with me, please? I don't wanna be alone."  
Jean smiled and nodded, laying down on the bed next to Marco. He wrapped his arms around Marco's chest and held him close, as if if he were to let go the world would collapse. Marco felt safer in Jean's arms. He smiled and his eyes drifted shut.  
"I love you, Jean."  
"I love you too, Marco."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is basically what Marco's neck looked like.  
> http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yKQKy12V064/maxresdefault.jpg  
> It's not exact, but it's the closest thing I could find.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little fluff chapter with target practice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was supposed to be up a day or two ago, but I was sick and not in the mood. But I'm better now and I dodn't turn into a zombie! So have a chapter, yay!

It was the morning after the zombie horde attacked. Breakfast had just been cleaned up and half the group was working on cleaning up the rest of yesterday's mess. Eren felt that his performance yesterday was poor at best and chose to spend the day practicing his marksmanship instead of help clean up. He was shooting a fake hunting rifle at a target on the wall, trying to teach himself to hold it properly and aim accuratly. At the moment, he was failing miserably because he had never used this type of gun and didn't know the proper stance.  
Levi heard the racket of the gun and came in to investigate. He saw Eren standing square to the target with the butt of the gun under his arm. He had one hand on the trigger and the other extended as far down the gun as he could reach it. Levi stormed over to him and ripped the gun from his hands.  
"Didn't I teach you anything yesterday?" He said just below a yell.  
Eren looked down at his feet. He knew that how he had been standing felt wrong, but he didn't know what was right and now he had to be lectured.  
"If you shoot like that you'll hurt yourself more than the zombies," Levi brought the gun up to his shoulder. "You have to have your feet planted on the ground firmly and tilt your body away from the target. The gun sits against your shoulder and your arms should be bent so you don't break them when the gun recoils. Like this," Levi demonstrated the proper stance and handed the gun back over to Eren from him to try for himself.  
Eren tried his best to mimick what Levi did, but he was still wrong. His stance was too loose and his shoulders were at a bad angle. Levi swiped a foot at Eren's back leg, nearly knocking him over. Eren straightened up, replanting his feet on the floor a little more firmly. Levi tried to knock him over again and was less successful this time. He brought his hands up to Eren's shoulders and corrected them.  
"Now, see the scope on top of your gun?" Levi asked.  
Eren nodded.  
"Look through that, there's a crosshair. Use that to aim at the target."  
Eren did what Levi said. He lined the little plus up with the middle of the target and fired the gun. Because of the force of the gun, he was pushed back a little and his aim went off to the right and a little up.  
"Pretty good," Levi said. "Try holding your breath while you shoot."  
Eren lined up his shot again and held his breath. He pulled the trigger, sending a quick burst of energy into his shoulder. This time, he stayed relatively still and the round hit the center ring of the target. It wasn't a direct bullseye, but it was in the color nonetheless.  
"Well, look at you, kid! You sure learn fast."  
Levi grabbed an empty ammo box from the shelf. He hopped over the counter and stood in front of the target. He balanced the box on his head and stood with his arms crossed.  
"Since you learn so fast, here's a challenge. I trust that you can do it, so shoot this box off my head."  
Eren wasn't sure he could do it, but he nodded and took aim. He was a little shaky and nervous. He lined up his shot, held his breath, and fired the gun. He missed the box, hitting the paper tagret about an inch above the top of the box. Levi stood absolutly still, waiting for Eren to try again. He said nothing, not even flinching or blinking.  
Eren was even more nervous this time. He had to aim lower; what if he aimed too low and shot Levi? His hands were shaky, but he took a couple deep breaths and fixed his aim. When he fired the gun this time, the round he shot off hit the box and knocked it off Levi's head. Levi bent down and picked it up, inspecting how the material held up. The plastic bullet made a dent, but didn't go through the box. He brought the box back up, placing one hand on either side and holding it about an inch in front of his nose.  
"Alright. I'm putting a lot of trust in you, Jaeger. Shoot the box."  
Eren nodded. Levi looked so calm, holding the box steady in front of his face. Eren aimed at the box, hesitating to pull the trigger. The room was dead silent for a long time. Time felt like it was dragging on, a second feeling more like an hour. When Eren finally felt confident enough to pull the trigger, he was sturdy and his aim was straight. At least, that was what he thought before Levi dropped the box and started screaming. He clutched his hands over his eye and dropped to his knees.  
Eren droped the gun on the ground and hopped over the counter as fast as he could, "Ohmygod, Levi! I'm so sorry, I- I didn't mean to! I swear I wasn't aiming for your eye! Are you okay?!"  
"Does it look like I'm okay?! You fucking shot me!" Levi yelled, still covering his eye with his hands.  
"Right, stupid question. Move your hands, let me see." Eren nudged Levi's wrist, but he refused to move his hands. "You have to let me see it so I know how bad it is!"  
Levi paused for a moment, then slowly moved his hands out of the way. He looked up at Eren, and Eren's expression quickly went from concerned to angry. The plastic bullet never hit Levi's face at all. He had been faking it just to mess with Eren. Eren huffed a slight growl and smacked the side of Levi's arm. Levi was practically falling over with laughter at the result of his little prank.  
"What the hell was that?! Was that your idea of funny?!" Eren yelled.  
Levi nodded, still laughing. He picked up the box and showed Eren that he had hit the box again and the plastic bullet was still stuck to the material. Eren smiled at his accomplishment, but was still angry at Levi for scaring him half to death. Eren stood up and grabbed Levi's wrist to pull him to his feet. When he finally got over his laughing fit, his face returnd to its normal expression and he hopped back over the counter to put the gun back on the shelf.  
"Don't be so mad, brat. You're a good shot when you know how to stand and aim. But you shouldn't be so scared. You were shaking like a leaf while you were aiming," Levi said.  
"Maybe I wouldn't shake so much if I wasn't afraid of shooting you." Eren scoffed.  
There were a couple knocks on the doorframe, followed by the deep voice of Erwin, "Hey, you two. We're getting ready to set all the zombie corpses on fire. Wasn't sure if you'd be interested in coming out to watch those little demons burn or not."  
Levi shook his head, "I remember the first time we did that. Those things smell putrid. I'm staying inside, thank you very much."  
"Alright, grumpy," Erwin turned his attention to Eren, "How 'bout you then?"  
Eren thought for a moment before giving his reply. "Sure, I guess."  
Erwin motioned Eren to follow, leaving Levi behind. They went out the front door to the large pile of dead zombies. Everyone was given a plastic bowl filled about halfway with lighter fluid. All of the group in attendance ceremoniously splashed the pile with the fluid. Then they all lit matches together and tossed them in. The pile began to burn, tall flames towering over them. The flames flickered and danced gracefully. The burning flesh certainly made an unplesent scent, but no one really payed any mind to it. The fire raged over the bodies for a long time, and when it finally put itself out, all that was left was a charred mass of unidentifiable blackness.


	9. Winter

Sasha looked over her shoulder to Connie behind her, "Hey, find it yet?"  
"No, still looking..." Connie replied.  
"Hurry up! What if someone comes in?"  
"Not gonna happen, no one goes over here..." Connie paused for a moment. "Can you help me?"  
"You said a minute ago that you didn't want my help," Sasha huffed.  
"Yeah, well, now I do."  
Sasha sighed and pushed herself off the counter where she'd been sitting. She grabbed Connie's wrist.  
"Connie, you're clearly nowhere near it."  
"Why do you say that?"  
"Because this is the rock section, you idiot."  
Connie looked up at the sign above the aisle, which did in fact say 'Rock.' "Well, where do you think it would be? I already checked the holiday shelves. The outbreak happened at the beginning of Fall, why would anyone have it?"  
Sasha thought for a moment. When her brain made all its connections, her eyes lit up. "The storage room! They should be in there!"  
"It's locked," Connie said plainly.  
"No problem! Let's go!"  
Sasha ran up to the storage room door of the music store. She pulled a pin from her hair, letting her long bangs fall into place. Her hair had grown so much that it was annoying now, so she had been pinning it back so she could see. She bent the bobby pin some and got to work on the lock on the door. Recently, she'd had to pick quite a few locks, and the door was open within a minute. Once the door was open, she bounded into the room to rifle through the shelves. Connie came in after her and searched a little cleaner, but still leaving some mess.  
After some messy searching, Sasha sprang up with a CD case in her hands. "I found it! Still wrapped in plastic and unharmed!"  
"Awesome!" Connie took it from her hands and stuffed it in his pocket. "Now let's go, we've wasted too much time. We were sent to do a job, in case you forgot."  
Sasha nodded and smiled. They headed out of the music store, openning the door to the bitter cold outside. They tightened their jackets around them and shoved their hands in their pockets. It was late December, only about a week until Christmas day. The holiday probably wouldn't actually be celebrated, but it was still an option. They would at least make some sort of big holiday meal.  
Because it was so cold, normally this time of year would be tacked up as 'Flu Season.' Even now, the time of year lived up to its name. The zombie virus was still a thing, but that didn't prevent a normal flu from still infecting anyone. It started a week ago when Hanji went out on a run down to the river to harvest the last of the plants that grew over there. She dropped a little bit, but instead of just leaving it there, she chose to just pick it up and eat it herself. Didn't even bother to wash it off, she just ate it off the dirt. She got sick from that with a minor flu, and it spread among the group. Since then, she had gotten better and was healthy again, but during her sickly time she infected Eren, Petra, Eld, Armin, Marco, and Crista.  
All six of them had a full-blown flu. They were bedridden with buckets, that's how bad it was. They were certain that this was just a flu, hovever, and not a zombie virus outbreak among them. They knew this because 1. Hanji didn't turn and 2. the zombie virus starts out like a cold and changes to flu-like symptoms within 24 hours. Everyone besides Marco was immediatly bedridden. Marco, on the other hand, had been sick with a minor cold for a couple days before the flu got here, and the flu just sent his sickness over the edge.  
All the sick people were quarentined in a large room that wasn't being used for anything prior. To prevent further spreading of the flu, Levi required everyone who had any interaction with them, even just talking to them while in the room, would have to wash their hands like a surgeon. While in the room some form of mask or another was also required. Levi was a definite neat-freak, but an illness made him go crazy. Basically, his entire day was scrubbing everything sick people ever touched with bleach and disinfectant.  
The group hadn't really stockpiled much along the lines of medicine. They had some allergy pills and pain pills, other basic over-the-counter drugs. None of thses were treating the flu that was infecting nearly half the group. This was the whole reason Sasha and Connie were out and about right now. They had been sent out into the Winter afternoon on a supply run for flu medicine. This required finding the pharmacy and then figuring out what the medicine looked like. There might not even be any at this point. It could have all been taken on day one. But they had to go anyway just in case.  
Light, powdery snow had fallen last night over the roads. Whenever the wind blew, it tossed the powder up into the air in little spirals. The clouds up above covered the sun and gave the impression of more impending snowfall. They didn't have a thermometer, but it felt no warmer than 30° out. The nearest pharmacy they knew of was a couple miles away and it sucked to have to walk that far through this weather. But it's not like they had a choice.  
When they got to the pharmacy, they opened the doors and began the search for medicine. It had been a little over three months since the outbreak, and it was likely that anything useful was already taken. They checked literally every shelf in the whole building. Out of the whole entire place... one bottle of flu medicine. So then came plan B: Find the hospital. They didn't know where the hospital was, but they had to find it. There was no way they would risk more people getting sick and possibly dying.

It took a long time to find the hospital, and when they found it, the whole building was dark. There was no power, the windows didn't bring any light into the hallways, and the place was covered in dust and blood. The air was heavy, thick, and hard to breathe in. Walls were stained with blood that was old and brown. Smeared hand prints, impact marks, and coagulated puddles that once smelled of decay now were caked onto the walls and floor of the building. Some doors were closed and locked, some hung open slightly, and some hung from their hinges, clinging on for dear life. Shattered glass was on the floor by nearly everything that once was a window or door or cup.  
Sasha and Connie wanted to keep the search short, checking only where employees would go instead of every room a patient might have once been in. However, it could not be helped but to at least check a couple of the patients' rooms. Most were empty and destroyed, but room eight on the first floor was a little different. On the bed where a sickly patient would have been in the past now held a rotting bloody corpse. The corpse of a little girl with scraggly brown hair splattered with dried blood. Her faded pink dress has torn in the middle over her stomach, and her abdomen was ripped apart, half-eaten guts spilling out and decaying. She had old, pussy bit marks on her arm and neck, as well as a bullet wound in her head. She had a visitor pass pinned to her chest, the laminated paper smeared over with blood making it impossible to read her name. The date, however, could be seen, and it was the date of the outbreak. After seeing such a horrific sight, they decided that this room was off-limits.  
The search finally ended as the sun began to set. Through the whole trip, they had only found four bottles of what looked like the right kind of medicine. At the very least, the labels said that they treated similar things to what their friends were feeling so this would have to do. They began the trek back to the mall they called home. The evening air was much colder than during the day.  
It was nearly an hour before they got back home. They brought the medicine bottles in to the room where all the sick people were being kept. After some questions of height and weight, doses were distributed to everyone and Hanji brought in some meals from the kitchen. The food was set on bedside tables but none of the sickly people were required to eat it. It was understandable that if you're vomiting all the time, there's not much motivation to eat. If they wanted to eat but had no energy, Hanji agreed to feed them like they were a toddler. (Without pretending the spoon or fork was a plane, of course. Although she wanted to.)  
Pretty soon it was time for everyone to get to bed. It had been agreed upon that they could not leave the sick unattended. What if a zombie sneaked in during the night and got to them? That would be a disaster. So Levi was in charge of guarding the door. He sat in a chair outside the door with a rifle next to him. He had been on this miniature night guard duty for the entire week that people had been sick, and his sleep schedule had been flipped around to he wouldn't fall asleep on duty. But this was the most boring job in the entire world and he wished he was tired enough to at least take a short nap. No such luck.  
All he could do right now was just stare off into the darkness of the mall. It wasn't like he could just whip out his phone and play Fruit Ninja, although he really wanted to. Sadly his phone was dead, and it had been for a while. Even if it wasn't, it was in his room. He had a candle a couple feet in front of him to provide some light, even if it was hardly anything. For a long time he just watched the little flame flicker and dance. He noticed it had a sort of pattern to how it moved. Boredom overcame him and he needed something to do, so he sat on the ground next to the candle and moved the fire with his hands.  
He spun a finger over the flame, causing it to spiral with the air. It wasn't much, but at least it was better than sitting and doing nothing. The pitch black mall was dead silent, the only noise in the whole building coming from the fabric of Levi's shirt and jacket moving with his arms. The wax from the candle was melting and collecting in a pool at the base of the wick. At some point it would put itself out and Levi would be in total darkness. He had a couple more candles nearby, but he was too focused on the dancing flame to remember to grab one and light it. And pretty soon, as if on cue, a small draft blew past Levi and the candle, pushing on the tiny flame. Levi cupped his hands around the candle to try and protect it. The little bit of heat it produced licked at his hands, which felt nice since he didn't have any gloves and the temperature in the mall was around ten degrees.  
A second gust blew past, this one a little stronger. The wind poked and prodded and the candlelight until the flame flickered out of existence. The last bit of light was out and the mall was truly pitch black. Not even moonlight cast a glow through the snow-coated skylight. Levi sighed and moved to stand up. He put his hands on the cold ground to push himself to his feet, and one hand landed where the candle was. He felt the still hot wax on his frosty fingertips, and it felt kind of nice at first. Pretty soon, however, he felt it burning his skin and he quickly wiped the liquid off on his pants. Well, now he had to do laundry in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now before any non-Americans go crazy, the temperature is in Fahrenheit. 30F ~ -1.1C, 10F ~ -12.2C


	10. Hollow Eyes

The heavy, dark, silent air lingered over the mall. Levi sat in his chair picking at his fingernails. It was still a couple hours until sunrise when everyone would wake up. Levi was trying to will himself to stay awake, but sleep felt so comforting. His eyelids were heavy and every ounce of his being was just done with tonight. The silence dragged on, time moving at a sloth's pace. Nothing had happened all night. Nothing.  
Until now. A weak, muffled scream. Levi perked up immediately and grabbed for his rifle. Any sign of tiredness had vanished in an instant. The screaming continued, now accompanied by another, more feminine tone. It was quiet, but he knew exactly where it was coming from – behind the wall that he stood in front of now.  
Levi smashed the door open and it took a moment for his tired brain to make the connection of what he was seeing. It was dark, but he could make out an outline of a man hunched over a bed. There were hoarse screams coming from the bed he was over top of as well as from the bed to the right of that one. There were wet noises that sounded like tearing of flesh, and when Levi used a match to light a candle so he could see, he wished he hadn't done that.  
There was blood in the sheets of the bed that belonged to the sickly Petra. Petra lied on the bed , mouth agape and screaming ceased. Her eyes were bloodshot and hollow. Blood leaked slowly from a large hole about the length of an average book. The gash was so deep that her internal organs had been pulled out some and were being gnawed on. Levi's eyes traced up the bloody mass until he saw what the entrails were being consumed by.  
Bloody hands held the organs up to an even bloodier mouth dripping with thick saliva. Teeth sank into the flesh and, with an audible tear, pulled off a chunk. The figure seemed to hear Levi's sharp, fearful breathing and turned to face him, the flesh it tore off still handing from its mouth. White, empty eyes bore into Levi's silver eyes, holding the deathly gaze without a need to blink. Black hair with blood dripping slowly from the ends hung a little over the forehead of the being. The hair framed a pale face, hanging just slightly over the eyes. The lips of the figure seemed to curl upwards slightly as the flesh hanging from between them was sucked in and disappeared with a loud gulp. The smile stretched over freckled cheeks.  
Levi raised his rifle as the man schlepped towards him. Levi aimed at the center of the forehead. Yet no matter how hard he tried, even someone as cold and emotionless as him couldn't pull the trigger when he knew the name of the creature that stood with a bloody grimace plastered on its face. He couldn't shoot a friend, a team member. He couldn't shoot Marco.  
The stitches on his neck from two months ago when the zombie horde attacked now looked moldy and puffy and were oozing some kind of liquid that Levi had never seen before. Whatever it was, it looked kind of green in this light. Levi stood with his gun raised, petrified with fear and unable to do anything. He watched almost in slow motion as what once was a living, breathing teen lunged at him. In a sudden burst of adrenaline, Levi regained control over his muscles and jumped back just barely out of reach.  
He knew one thing for certain – if he couldn't kill this zombie, he at least had to prevent it from doing what it did to Petra to anyone else. Levi ran as fast as his jelly-like legs could carry him to the supply room. He stumbled through the darkness until he found some rope and duct tape. Once Levi was back, he knew his plan would be nearly impossible to complete. He jumped onto the zombie's back and smacked a large piece of duct tape over its mouth. The force of him jumping up onto its back sent it falling face-first to the floor. Levi sat on its back and used his whole body weight to pin the creature. He planted one foot over one of its cold hands and wrapped the other in a thick layer of duct tape until one hand was just a big ball of tape. He then did the same to the other hand, which somewhat neutralized the treat of infection. He used the rope to tie the balled-up hands behind its back, using another rope to tie the arms to its sides and tie the legs together.  
Levi hauled the mass of weight onto the chair by the door and pinned the zombie to the chair with a couple more ropes. It, well, Marco kept thrashing around in futile attempts to escape the ropes but it was thankfully no use. Levi stood back and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. He stumbled back into the room of sick people to check and make sure everyone else was okay. Everyone was awake now, but the only person who actually had any clue what was going on was Crista, who sat up in her bed staring wide-eyed as Petra, or what remained of her.

“Jean, I'm very sorry,” Levi said, doing his best to show sympathy for Jean by his side that morning.  
Jean turned to face Levi with a slight smile across his face, “Sorry? Sorry for what?”  
Levi's face grew confused. He looked over to Marco in the chair, then looked back to Jean, “About your boyfriend. Right there. He's dead.”  
“No, he's not,” Jean looked back over at Marco. “Why is he tied up?”  
“...Because he kinda turned last night. Remember back when he got bitten and we thought you couldn't get infected because he didn't show any signs of being sick? Yeah, well, the symptoms finally kicked in and I guess we mistook it for a flu.”  
Jean walked over to Marco and knelt down next to him. He cupped Marco's cold face in his hands and smeared the drying blood from his cheeks with his thumbs.  
“Oh, look at you...” Jean said, “You're all dirty... I think you need a bath. That'll make you feel better after being sick this past week.”  
Levi grabbed at Jean's arm when Jean started to untie one of the ropes, “Jean, you're not listening to me. He doesn't need a bath, he needs to be put down.”  
“Oh, please, Levi. You of all people should know that he needs a bath. Look at him, he's covered in blood!”  
“Exactly! He killed Petra last night, that's her blood! I told you that!” Levi reached behind him and breathed deeply. “Look, Jean. I thought about this for a while last night. I think it'll help you come to terms with this if you do the honors,” He held out a pistol to Jean, but Jean just looked up at him like he was crazy.  
“What do I need that for? C'mon, Marco. Let's get you cleaned up.”  
“Jean, get it through your goddamned skull. Marco is dead.”  
“No, he's not. He's right here.”  
“Yes, he i-”  
“He's not dead!!” Jean yelled, tears forming in his eyes.  
Levi took a small step back. Jean couldn't understand. He didn't want to understand, to believe, that his best friend, his first real love, was dead and had turned. In Jean's mind, that couldn't possibly be reality. Jean untied Marco from the chair and untied his legs to he could walk. He held Marco by his arm, pulling him along to go clean him up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, super short chapter, I know. The feels were killing me, I had to stop writing. But this is not the last we will see of Marco, I can assure you that.


End file.
